He's our best hope because of recruiting deficiencies and a lack of development specifically at WR. My point was that so many fans have built up a strawman argument of opportunities as freshmen as the driver of that lack of development. ND needs to do better at WR. Unwillingness to play freshmen at any single position or across the board is not the cause. Recruitment, long term development, bad luck, player accountability and quite honestly, identifying players who might flake out. Those are all issues. Stubbornness over putting freshmen on the field isn't.
the spotlight shining on WR development is going to be huge this year, both on the seniors (Austin, Lenzy, Keys) and the young guys (Watts, Styles, Colzie) and it will probably make or break Del this year. If we see 2 of the seniors step up (40 catch type season with some flash) and 1 of the young guys really play a role (20 or so catches), then I think we're all going to have a very dynamic offense with Coan at QB and we won't have much to complain about. Assuming they land CJ and Tobias, not much to complain about as far as WR recruiting goes. That would be back to back classes with 2 high level WRs in each (3 if you count JJ and Watts).
I think it's an old argument that doesn't hold water anymore. The early Kelly classes were light on draft picks, but as he filtered out Weis players, he has hit on more. It looks worse because he still hasn't gotten that elite QB and developed them through the system, but the OL and TE have always been great and the DL and DB are sneaky underrated.
Recruiting could turn for the positive with those additions, yes. I'm also encouraged that we already hear better things about the "traits" of this year's freshmen. They don't sound like the types that will fail to learn the playbook in 4 years. Again, some of the issue is with players and their work ethic and character. But whose job is it to identify the right traits? Coaching isn't off the hook. But yes, the 21/22 guys are very encouraging that things are picking up.
That's gotta include training camp invites, UDFA who haven't been cut, and/or not take into account people who've retired. That would imply every single NFL team has 2 ND players and every class since 2011 has produced 6 players still in the league lol
Even LB and DL have been strong. Recruiting and development on the edges can go a long way toward that next step. Even there, trusting freshmen is not a problem. Clarence Lewis, anybody?
Man we are going to have a whole generation of fans coming up who are thinking 10-3 is a bad year after not experiencing the 25 straight years of missery
Cant believe those guys are seniors. They still feel like the young hopes. WRs have been so disappointing
Born in 1981, didn't know true sucking until college (there has to be a St. Mary's joke in there but I'm not coming up with it)
yeah, that’s the first sign that Lea might be a little too much in his own head to be a head coach. But I still hope he succeeds, seems like a good guy and college football needs more of these.
This is going to hurt KH at the combine. People are going to ask wtf he meant by one of the best receiving corps and question his judgement.
it's crazy, we're a legit 3 deep at both interior spots and that was after MTA kicked out to SDE...i just never thought i'd see the day
Latest visitor list for the July 27th BBQ. The defensive staff is running laps around the O July 27 (BBQ Recruiting Event) Four-star DL Tyson Ford (2022 commit) Three-star DT Donovan Hinish (2022 commit) Five-star DE Brenan Vernon (2023 commit) Five-star LB Drayk Bowen (2023) Four-star CB Malik Muhammad (2023) Four-star DB King Mack (2023) Four-star DE Derrick LeBlanc (2023) Four-star LB Ta'Mere Robinson (2023) Unranked LB Preston Zinter (2023) Unranked DB Adon Shuler (2023) Unranked DB Moussa Kane (2023) Unranked LB Anthony Speca (2024) Hoping to Make It: Four-star DE Luke Montgomery (2023) Four-star TE Mac Markway (2023) Four-star OL Joshua Padilla (2023) Four-star DB Ryan Yaites (2023)
to be fair, i just scrolled through the depth chart and even though we know some other guys are gonna be great there really wasnt another serious option
only person i can think of worse to develop this young man than brian kelly, would be jim harbaugh. michigan is where QB's go to die.
I wonder if Harbaugh sells Andrew Luck the way our RB coach sells Christian McCaffery and I wonder if the results are similar?
signing on to be ruined by the milk drinking psychopath seems to be a far easier sell than it should be for MU.
I think prior to the portal it would be, nowadays if you don't like how things are going you can just head elsewhere. But like I said, I think it's OSU if it's not us but I'd expect us to land him currently. We offered him when he was a 7th grader, he's come to numerous games since he was offered, he trains with Devin Gardner, etc. Everything about the kid indicates a Detroit kid who will take a bunch of visits and then just end up at Michigan. Just like Donovan Edwards, Donovan Peoples-Jones, etc.
If Michigan is the main comp and not Ohio St i feel much better. ND has done much better in that recruiting matchup and the trajectory of programs favor ND at this point. He may be a Michigan man after all is said and done but not sure ND is scared much by Michigan in recruiting right now.